Smile
by lilacflowers
Summary: Shion won't smile properly with his braces and Nezumi notices. Middle School AU. [Nezushi]


WRITIN ABOUT MY TWO FAVOURITE DORKS AGAIN. This is based of a headcanon from no6headcanons on Tumblr (which is an AMAZING blog by the way, I spent all of yesterday reading through all forty pages and crying).

I'm Scottish but since I set this in America, I tried using American words. Oh, and forgive any grammar/spelling mistakes, English actually is my native language, I'm just really bad at it.

* * *

Despite the fact it was middle school and practically half the school had braces anyway, that didn't make Shion feel any better about his. He would spend at five minutes at the least in the morning smiling into a mirror, then frowning at the way he looked. He really despised how they made him look.

He ended up spending longer than usual in front of the mirror one morning because that day happened to be the 8th grade's picture day. He really hated picture day.

"Shion, you'll be late for meeting Nezumi!" Karan, Shion's mother called up the stairs to him. Shion sighed and pulled the straps of his backpack over his shoulders, leaping down the stairs two at a time. He made to leave, heading for the door of the bakery.

"I'm off!" He called, but his mother was having none of it.

"You need to eat something before you go, or at least take something with you," Karan said, shoving two raisin muffins into his hands. "Give one to Nezumi too."

Shion rolled his eyes playfully and his mother kissed him on the forehead. "See you later, mom!"

He rounded the corner to see Nezumi leaning against a wall, his phone in his hand. He had been engrossed in some kind of online game recently and even paid for the app. Shion laughed to himself and approached the raven haired boy.

They had lived on the street next to each other for years but they never knew each other until one day when they were twelve and Nezumi had got into a fist fight in 6th grade and hurt his arm. Shion had found him while walking home and used the little first aid kit in his bag to make a small splint. The two had been friends ever since.

"Here," Shion offered the muffin to Nezumi, who grinned and accepted. He wouldn't admit it aloud, but Shion knew that Nezumi loved the food his mom baked. "Did you remember to do that homework we were assigned in biology yesterday?"

Nezumi shot him an exasperated look, "Shion, that isn't due until next Monday, why would I have done it?"

"I just feel you should try not to make it a habit of doing it as we walk to school on the morning it's due."

A pause. "You're such a nerd."

* * *

"Shion!" Safu called, catching him in the hallway. "Let me see your photo preview!" She took the paper from his hands where a small version of the photo taken was, so that his mother would know what it looked like before ordering whatever prints of it she wanted. "You didn't smile properly!"

Shion had mastered the trick of smiling with his mouth closed for every photo, because no way in hell was he going to smile fully with braces. No way.

They were walking towards the front gates, school having just ended. He had been one of the last to have his photo taken. Shion shrugged. "Guess I can't change it now." Safu frowned but let it go when she noticed Nezumi standing by the gates, waiting for Shion. She frowned even more.

"Your last class was on the opposite end of the school," she accused, glaring at Nezumi. "Shion and I were in the hallway right there, and since the bell just rang, there is no way you could have been able to get from there to here before us."

Nezumi rolled his eyes at her, "I skipped my last class, obviously. Come on, Shion." He started to walk away. With a quiet sigh, Shion jogged to catch up quickly, calling a farewell back to Safu, who was still standing there looking irritated.

"You shouldn't be too mean to her," Shion said. Nezumi ignored him. "Do you wanna come over tonight? I don't have any homework."

Nezumi looked like he was trying to ignore him again, but eventually gave in. "I'll drop my bag off then be over in about ten, okay?"

* * *

Shion was reading a book that Nezumi had lent him while Nezumi was playing around with the webcam on Shion's laptop, leaving a whole folder of stupid selfies with various different effects. Shion didn't mind.

"Hey, nerd, come take a photo with me," Nezumi commanded, pulling Shion's arm, dragged him over to his side of the bed. "You've had the same photo on Facebook for a year or something now, so we're gonna get you a new one. C'mon smile."

Shion joined Nezumi in front of the webcam and smiled as he usually would. Nezumi pressed the three second timer and did his usual smirk. The screen flashed to signal that the photo had been taken. Nezumi glanced over at the albino with a frown.

"That wasn't a proper smile," he commented. Shion looked indignant.

"You didn't do a proper smile either!" the albino cried, huffing. "You insist on doing that dumb 'bad boy' smirk in every photo."

"Fine, fine! We'll take another," Nezumi compromised and moved the laptop slightly, so they were both fully in view.

Before Shion could stop it, Nezumi was suddenly tickling him, his touches light but swift, bringing Shion into fits of giggles instantly. He could see the flash of the laptop screen from the corner of his eyes and he gasped, realising that it had taken a picture. He couldn't move, however, all self control gone with Nezumi hands. The two collapsed back onto the bed, Nezumi's hands still roaming Shion's body. Both boys were laughing now.

Eventually, Nezumi stopped, laying on top of Shion, both breathing heavily, laughter still evident on their faces with the grins and flushed cheeks. Then Shion remembered the picture.

He shot up, aiming for the delete button but Nezumi caught his wrist and pointed at the screen, where the photo was displayed. In the picture, both are facing each other, full smiles on their faces from laughing.

"You look cutest when you're trying not to hide your smile, you know?" Nezumi said. He felt his face grow hot and he tried to play it over quickly. "But I mean cute for a total nerd, okay?" He closed the webcam application and opened the internet instead, his cheeks still red. Shion smiled, a proper smile, and shuffled closer to Nezumi, their arms pressed together. The rest of their night was spent watching weird YouTube videos.

* * *

A couple nights later, Nezumi lay in his bed, ignoring the large pile of homework on his desk, scrolling through Facebook instead. He could feel himself losing a few braincells over the annoying status updates that some of the people in his school made and was close to closing off the tab until he saw an update that stated that Shion had changed his profile picture.

A stupid smile crossed his face. Shion had changed it to the picture of the two of them laughing.


End file.
